11.26.2009

Recently I watched The Sound of Music with my kids (we watched it in crazy collages style, jumping around to all the "singy" parts and skipping the damned Nazis). The 4-year-old loved it, esp the group kid songs. I thought:

1. I like how even though they're supposed to be singing in German, the most famous song, "Doe, a deer...", totally depends upon being sung in English for its puns and rhymes.

2. I also didn't know that it is a true story. They all ended up in Vermont.

3. The best was near the end when the father uses a song, "Edelweiss", as a weapon against the Nazis, invoking the audience's Austrian spirit. They can't do anything except remember and hold onto what they are but it's still a powerful and inspiring moment.

Finally, here's a bunch of music I've been listening to, mostly found through Mark Weidenbaum's excellent and (to me, now) indispensible Disquiet.